Sunday Cable Ratings: GAME OF THRONES Breaks Records, VEEP Up in Premiere, and MAD MEN Dips in Week Two

Though Monday evening’s TV ratings are heavily skewed downward due to preemptive coverage of the tragedy in Boston, Sunday evening’s cable ratings have arrived. Here’s a look at how things stacked up:

The fantastic third episode of HBO’s Game of Thrones netted an all-time high audience of 4.7 million viewers, which is up from the season premiere’s 4.4 million total. A fourth season of the fantasy series has already been ordered, and it’s safe to say Game of Thrones won’t be going away for a very, very long time.

The season two premiere of the swell HBO comedy series Veep scored 1.2 million viewers in the post-Game of Thrones slot. That’s up 11% from the season one finale and marks the second most-watched episode in the show’s history.

Finally, Sunday’s Jon Hamm-directed episode of Mad Men dipped from last week’s two-hour season six opener with 2.7 million viewers. That’s down quite a bit from the premiere’s 3.4 million total.